If you skipped my article from Friday, October 5, 2018 or simply glazed over my sage advice on how to balance your DFS budget early in the NHL, please go back and read or revisit the piece. Let’s continue our Tuesday streak!

Top Stacks

We took an “L” for the first time in a while yesterday, but hit in cash in many slates straight. Let’s commence a new streak!

The easy stack of the night and the one that will be the heaviest-owned is the Pittsburgh Penguins top line. I expect the line consisting of Tanner Pearson, Evgeni Malkin, and Patric Hornqvist to dominate the Ottawa Senators just like the line dominated the other night when Malkin and Hornqvist racked up points on their way to two goals. Tonight, the task will be a bit easier, even on the road, against a Senators team that ranks dead last in shots against and goals against. The fact that the home team also has the worst CF% figure is just icing on the cake.

That said, the Senators offense is also a great play against a Penguins team that has a 49.3% CorsiFor% and is allowing over three goals against and 33.2 shots against. Pittsburgh has dropped two in a row and 7 of their last 8 and their penalty has been poor. Tampa Bay recorded four, yes four, goals on the man advantage a few nights ago, and while the Senators offense is not the Lightning’s offense, they have still notched 15 goals in their last three wins. The team’s top line (Brady Tkachuk – Colin White – Mark Stone) should have the better line matchup on home ice, but don’t overlook Drake Batherton, who scored a goal in his first game two nights ago for our cash lineups as a punt play.

The other team from Florida’s offense continues to be the darling of NHL DFS and they get what should be an easy task tonight on the road in Madison Square Garden. The Manhattan Rangers are allowing the fourth most shots against and the eighth most goals against this season. Moreover, the team boasts a pitiful bottom ten penalty kill and this vulnerability is what you should target with the Panthers this evening. Roster Evgenii Dadonov – Aleksander Barkov – Vincent Trocheck – Keith Yandle – Jonathan Huberdeau as a power play stack or, if you want to roster an even strength line, look to the second line with Trocheck at center.

Other Notable Stacks

On the road, I will have exposure to the Boston Bruins second line once again; Jake DeBrusk – David Krejci – Joakim Nordstrom.

The Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers should be a nice game to stack (or play as individual line stacks). If you’re on Calgary, you must take the team’s top line (Johnny Gaudreau – Sean Monahan – Elias Lindholm) or sub in Matthew Tkachuk for a power play stack. On the Oilers side, your stack is the Connor McDavid line with Drake Caggiula and Leon Draisaitl.

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There were some questions in the Slack chat over the first month of the season about how to find the lines that I list as my top stacks on the Top Shelf Knucklepuck Cheat Sheet. Head over to either DailyFaceoff.com or LeftWingLock.com to see which skaters are on each of a team’s lines and then build your line stacks. For example, if you see that my top stack of the day is “PIT PP1 / 1”, look at one of the two sites listed above and you will see that the top power play unit of the Pittsburgh Penguins consists of Patric Hornqvist – Evgeni Malkin – Sidney Crosby – Kris Letang – Phil Kessel. The team’s top line features Jake Guentzel – Sidney Crosby – Patric Hornqvist. I decided to leave off the players’ names from the line stacks because of the fact that they may change before the game or after the team’s morning skate (if applicable). Both sites I mentioned are updated regularly and typically accurate. If you’re ever lost, just ask questions in our Slack chat.

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Feel free to comment here or post a screenshot or photo on Instagram and remember to tag me @NotTonyM. I am always open to feedback and critique. Just remember, I respond to respect and love in whatever the message is that you want to share. Good luck!